Bear blog

An American man with a big bushy mustache just came up to me to return some books. Once our transaction was complete he said

"Well, alrighty then. Y'all have a good day now, miss."

I think he may have been a little disturbed by the inane grin and childish giggle it produced.

The Head of Library Academic Services just came up to my desk looking very sheepish and quietly asked me for his PIN number...and whether I could tell him what his user ID was...and how he actually logs on to the system.

His apologetic explanation was that he "[doesn't] really use libraries very much."

*rolls eyes*

Someone in the Engineering department obviously reads my blog.

 The University has issued this statement about the display thingy:

"...the numbers of the display have the following meaning: 

- the top line displays the actual amount of electrical power in kilowatts being produced by the system. The display is updated with new readings every 2 minutes.

- the middle line shows how many kilowatthours of electricity the system has produced since it was commissioned in March 2007. As a reference the typical electricity consumption in the UK is around 3,500 kWh (= 3.5MWh) per year

- the bottom line shows the amount (in tonnes) of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions that are avoided by the generation of the PV system. This amount of CO2 would have been added to the atmosphere if the PV system had not been in operation. Again this amount relates to the operation of the system since the commissioning in March 2007.

Unfortunately, adding this information to the display would have made it very cluttered..."

Isn't Alby clever?

Our iconic new building is covered in solar panels, mega-techy-poly-christaline louvres, and general shininess. A bloke has just stuck up a little information sign with a built in monitor so we can all keep tabs on how wonderful and environmentally friendly we're being in our massive offices while we have the air conditioning on full blast and a few hundred computers pumping their evil out into the atmosphere. But having read the thing, I still have no idea what I'm looking at.

This morning's readings were at:

• 90.00 kW
• 8.120 MWh and
• 3.491 t

Is that good? Should I be running from the building for fear that the sun's rays are going to bake me alive? Should I be busy scoffing at how much money they've spent on this crap?

I need a geeky type to tell me what it all means.

I rode my bike to work this morning from the new house. It was all terribly exciting. There was lots of swoosh, swoosh, zip, whiz, voom and I didn't fall off once. Pete rode with me though (just to be sure).

We got all the way through Braunstone without getting our tyres nicked. Then all the way down Narborough Road without getting run over by a bus. Then all the way through the 'Nuts' without knocking anybody over or being way-layed by stupid road works. Then we crossed big roads without any screeching of brakes or squeals of terror, and rode up a couple of steep hills without me having to get off and push. Not even once.

Pete won't be there to ride home with me tonight though. If I never post again you'll know I'm under the wheels of a car somewhere.

A girl just came up to issue some books and she was humming.

I was about to tell her to shush (as is my want) but then realised that she was humming a song I didn't realise anyone else in the world had heard, let alone liked enough to hum.

"Is that Regina Spektor?" I asked, incredulously.
"Yes," She replied, incredulously. "I didn't realise anyone else in the world had ever heard that song."
"You're telling me."

Generally speaking, I loathe work.

But there's something terribly comforting about sitting round a desk with your mates on a Tuesday evening in a library bereft of students, listening in silence to the munching of easter eggs and pringles as we tap tap tap away on our computers.

These are the moments in life I live for.